Elevator for liquids.



J. P. BUCHANAN.

ELEVATOR FOR LIQUIDS. AVPPLIOATION FILED JUNE-27,1908.

922,749, Patented May 25, 1909.

JJkffF gPBac/Zanan naw cot JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO MAXMILIAN CALM,

JAFFREY P. BUCHANAN, or

fr 1 ai e.

01* NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELEVATOR F03 LIQUIDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 1 @5125, 190a.

Application filed June 27, 1908. Serial No. 440,775.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAFFREYP. BUCHANAN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hud- 5 son and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators for Liquids, of which the following is a descriptioi'i.

This invention relates generally to clcvators for liquids and more particularly to such mechanism for elevating, by the direct application of lluid pressure, liquids of such a character that they cannot advantageously be pumped. These liquids may be either caustic or corrosive, and many times possess a high temperature, and, owing to their inl jurious effects upon the materials necessary to the construction of ordinary pumps, cannot advantagmusiy be pumped without injuring the pumping apparatus. in this class of apparatus a p ulsating single tank elevator commonly called a monte-j us is known.

lrionte-jus ol' the prior art have been much limited in their usefulness by reason of the fact that it has been micessary that each monte-jus be specially designed and ermancntly adjusted for the liquid to be e evatcd and consequently could he usedmnly for elevating liquids having a comparatively unvarying specific gravity and of a comparativcly ui'ivztryhu character, that is caustic as distinguished from corrosive or vice versa,

' and cold as distinguished from hot or vice versa. Furthermore much diiliculty has been .3 experienced with this type of monte-jus in handling liquids carrying a large percentage of solid matter suspended or in admixture. l urthcrnmrc, due to the old type of controlling mechanism, the delivery of liquids from the old type ol" montc-jus has necessarily been ulsatiug in character. No delivery of liquic could be accomplished while the tank of the 1nonte-jus was filling up from the sup It has heretofore been 11npossible to employ a pair of monte-jus of the old type so that they would operate alternately, because of the fact that, even if the two monte-jus were started in operation one lagging a half phase behind the other, it has 3 been impossible owing to the old type of controlling meclnmism to maintain automatic synchronism hetupen the twm r An object to applicants invention is to ply reservoir.

provide an elevator for liquids employing irectly applied fluid pressure, and which specific gravities;

w'll'make possible a constant flow of liquid r to be elevated through the supply main to the apparatus and through the delivery mains from the apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide a satisfactory multiple unit elevator or 1nontcjus, the operation of all the units of which may he controlled from a single inastcr unit or tank; to providc'apparatus of the type. described by means of which liquids of a highly varying character, either caustic or corrosive, hot or cold, etc, may be readily elevated; to rovide an elevator for liquids capahle of ad ustment exteriorly to the liquid tank for rendering it capable of elevating any liquid having any one of a wide range of to provide a multiple unit e evator, the operation of all the multiple units of which may be controlled by a single master unit and the units of which are provided with suitable ducts and mains having valve-s whereby two or more of the units may be connected in parallel thereby increasing the capacity of the elevator, or in which various individual units may be connected to separate reservoirs containing liquids (littering in character to be delivered by the apparatus either all to the same receiving vat or each to a separate receiving vat at will; and to provide a simple and ei'llcient valve mechanism for controlling the supply of iluid pressure to the various units 0 the elevator and to control the opening of the various units to the atmosphere or exhaust,

which valve mechanism may be located at a material distance from the liquid tanks or units and entirely outside of the fluid pressure i'nclosure, a preferable locality being near the point of liquid delivery.

Further objects of my invention will be apparent from the following doscri tion and the accol-npanying drawings anr will be pointed out particularly in the'accdmpanymg claims.

In the drawings, which form art of this application, in which like numera s designate corresponding parts, Figure l is a front elevation partly in section of my Inulti le unit monte-jus and controlling means; 2 is a side elevation of the arts shown. in Fig. 1 Fig. 3 is a detail, party in section, showing a modification of the connections of the float of the master unit to the valve controlling means; Fig. l is diagram indicating my multiple unit elevator comprising two of member 2 free 'while the walls of the cylinder constitute one or more tanks or units, and the ducts, mains and valves in combinatlon therewith;

Fig. 5-1sa diagram in elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 4: and Fig. 6 is a view with parts broken-away showing another modification of the connections between the float of the master unit and the valve mechanism.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 indicates the master tank shown in the form of a vertically supported cylinder and containing the float member or liquid displacing to move vertically therein means for guiding float member 2. The cylinder has bottom and top closures 3 and .4, the top closure of which is provided with a suitab e stufling box 5, through which the rod 6 secured to and extending axially from the float member or liquid displacing mem-- partly to guide the ber 2 extends and serves float 2 in its movement.

7 indicates a companion tank to tank 1, and which may be similar thereto, as shown, in all res ects exce t that it is notprovided with a oat IDGIT) er' or liquid displacing member and its accom anying mechanism.

8'indicatesa source of liquid supply shown in the form of. a main, the passa e of liquid through which may be control ed by the valve 9. Ducts 10 and 11 lead from the main 8 res ectively to the interior of the tanks 7 and 1 through the check, valves 12 and 13 respectively as shown.

I14 and 15 designate ducts leading from the interior of the respective tanks 7 and 1 and connected through check valves 16 and 17 and ducts 18 and 19 to the delivery main 20. v

21 designates a source of fluid pressure which may be supplied from any suitable means and may be in the form of steam, compressed air or the like.

22 and 23 designate respectively-fluid pres sure mains leadingrespectively to the tanks 7 and -1 and may be connected to the interior thereof through the top of the tanks as shown.

- 24 designates in general means controlled by the float member member 2 of the master tank for connecting the tanks 7 and 1 respectively to the source of the fluid pressure and to the atmosphere alternately upon a redeterminedrise and fall of the float men: or or liquid displacing member 2.

"lever 27 of the valve mechanism.

: nection with an adjustable weight In detail the mechanism of the means 24 and its connecting parts are as follows :25 is'a connection extending from the rod 6' of the float member or liquid displacing member 2 and connected by the link 26 to the tappet In this embodiment the connection 25 is flexible and extends over a sheave 28 and down into con- 29. I The ofthe tank and fall to or liquid displacing through the webs embodiment to partially counter-balance the effective weight of the float member or liquid displacing member 2, which it is found convenient to make of lead, either containing a hollow space or being float member or liquid displacing member 2 may be formedof any suitable non-corrosive material and is designated a float member or liquid displacing member in that it obeys the laws of Archimedes, notwithstanding the fact that it might not float in the embodiment of Fig. 1 were it not for the counterbalance weight 29.

As a matter of fact the float member 2 is not a float at all. but is merely a liquid displacer and preferably has a greater weight than an equal volume of the heaviest liquid to be elevated, although it may be arranged to operate preferably at half immersion. The term float member has been adopted to include this idea. The mechanism is adjusted so that, upon the filling of the master tank 1, the float member or liquid displacing member 2 will risewith the liquid to the to the bottom of the tank as the liquid is expelled therefrom. Varying specific gravities of liquid are found operation. of the float member or liquid displacing member 2 and if necessary a ready and simple adjustment of the controlling means may be accomplished by adjusting the weight 29, so that the elevatorimay be adapted to elevate liquids having widely different specific gravities. The apparatus is adjusted so that the rise of the float mem ber or liquid displacing member 2 will effect a movement of the. lever 27 into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The lever 27 maybe journaled to move freely upon the horizontal shaft 30, supported in bearings 31 and 32, which in turn maybe secured to a suitable support 33 at any convenient distance. above and away from the tanks 1 and 7.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the lever 27 may comprise two horizontally arms connected by webs 34 and 35 symmet-' rically positioned relatively to the shaft 30 and which form a tappet frame. Adjustable tappet screws 36 and 37 extend respectively 34 and 35. Journaled upon shaft 30 between the arms of the tappet lever 27 and freely movable on said shaft is an. arm 38, with means 39 at its outer end for securing the adjustable weight 40. The arm- 38 and the tappets 36 and 37 are constrained to rotate in the same plane, so that either one or the other of the tappet's may engage the arm 38 to effectthe movement thereof as will to have "little change in effect upon the satisfactory spaced sear so striker pin 43 extends laterally from the arm 38 into the path of movement of the arms 41 and 42. Suitable valve mechanism for .the mains 22 and 23 is controlled by the lever arms 41 and 42. in its present embodiment there is shown a fluid pressure valve 44, eonnected to main 2.2 by duct 45 and to the sup ply 21 by duct 46; a fluid pressure valve 47 connected to main source 21 by duct 49; an exhaust valve 50 opening to the atmosphere and connected to main 22 by duct 51; and an exhaust valve 52 also opening to-the atmosphere and con nected to the main 23 by duct 53. In this embodiment a rocker frame 54 controls both the valves 44 and 50 and a similar rocker frame 55 controls the valves 47 and 52- so that when 47 is open, 52 is closed and vice versa, and so that when 44 is open, 50 is closed and vice versa. Links 56 and 57 re spectivcly connect the ends of the arms 42 and 41 to the cross bars 58 -and 59 of frame 55, and in a similar manner links 60 and 61 also respectively connect the ends of the arms 42 and 41 with the cross bars 62 and 153 of frame 54, whereby the valves 44, 50, 47 and 52 may be separated. at any distance from the lever arms 41 and 42 and also whereby the frames 54 and 55 are interconnected.

Obviously the interconnection of the frames 54 and might be accomplished otherwise than by means of links connected to the lover arms 41 and 42 as for instance they both might constitute a single frame.

The operation of the elevator is as follows Upon the opening of the valve 9 in the main 8, which usually leads from a reser- 'voir containing the fluid to be elevated and occupying a position above the tanks 1 and 7, and below the valves 50 and 52 the liquid to be elevated flows through duct 11 through check valve 13 into tank 1 to fill the same. Now the source of the fluid pressure, shown as a valve 21, is turned on. The filling of tank 1 has raised the float member or liquid displacing member 2, whereby the weight 29 actmg through link 25 has been effective in rotating the lever 27 counter-clock wise. When the float member or liquid displacing member 2 reaches the limit of its rise, the tappet 37 of lever 27 has carried the arm 38 bearing weight 40 past'its dead center, that is counter-clock wise past a vertical position above shaft 30 so that this arm continues its I rotation, sharply accelerated by gravity acting on weight 40, whereupon the striker pin 43 strikes the arm 41 a sharp blow moving the lever arms 41 and 42 and the connected frames 54 and 55 into op osite but symmetrical position from that shown in Figs. 1 and This movement of frames 54.- and 55 causes the source of fluid pressure 21 to be connected through valve 47, ducts 49 and 48, and main 23, to the master tank 1, the mean- While exhaust valve 52 being closed and the 23 by duct 48 and to the fluid pressure valve 44 for main 22 being closed and exhaust valve 50 for main 22 being opened to the atmosphere.

The fluid pressure applied to the interior of tank 1 through main23, displaces the corn tained liquid expelling it throu h duct 15, check valve 17, duct 19 into de ivery main 20, thence to any suitable locality, as a receiving vat. "The meanwhile, tank 7 being open to the atmosphere through valve 50, liquid has been flowing thereinto from supply main 8 through duct 10 and check valve 12, sothat when the fluid pressure applied to tank 1 has completely expelled the liquidcontents of tank 1. and allowed float member or liquid displacing member to fall, the tank 7 has in turn been filled. (For most satisfactory operation it may be beneficial to regulate the degree of fluid pressure by means of valve 21.) The downward movc-- ment of float member or liquid displacing member 2 has caused the return oi lever 27 I to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereupon tappet 36 has rotated lever arm from it s counter-clock wise position, in which weight 40 may rest upon stop 64, past the vertical. position of dead center so that it falls clockavise until it contacts with stop 65, the meanwhile, pin 43 striking a sharp blow up lever arm 42 to throw it into position she in Figs. 1 and 2, whereupon fluid pressure valve 47 is closed; exhaust valve 52 opened to connected main 23, through duct 52 to the atmosphere; exhaust valve 50 till l s is closed; and fluid pressure valve 44 is opened to connect the source of fluid 'pressure with tankv 7 through duct 46, valve 44, duct 4-5 and main 22. This fluid pressure applied to tank 7 expels the liquid therefrom through duct 14, check valve 16, and. duct 1.8, 05 to delivery main 20 ina similar manner to that in which liquid was expelled from tank '1. During the discharge/oftank 7, liquid has been flowing into master tank 1 from the supply main 8 in the same manner as hereto- 10 fore described. When tank 1 is again filled, its first operation is repeated, the expelling of the contents of tanks 1 and 7 thereafter operating automatically and alternately as will be clearly understood, and so as to ef- 5 fecta continuous flow of liquid in both the supply main 8 and the delivery main 2(). in this operation the check valves operate in a well known manner to prevent back flow.

' if desired the float member or liquid dis- 20 placing member 2 may be positively connected with tappet lever 27, thus serving equally as a thrust and-tension member and as indicated in Fig. 3. in this modification the couliter-balancing weight 29 may or may not be provided desired.

Fig. (5 illustrates another manner of con necting piston 6 to the lever arm 27. In this modification a rack 66 is directly connected to piston 6 and intermeshes with a second 27. The rack 66 may be held in engagement with rack 67 by means of a suitable guide 68.

' It is also to be-understood that any and all guiding means, which may be deemed necessary, may be provided for the flexible connection 25 as well as for the rack connection 66.. For instance it may be desired in some instances to change the direction of the flexible link other than at the pulley 28 when suitable duplications of pulley 28 could obviously beiused.

Figs. 4 and 5 indicate in diagram one set of one or more fluid tanks 1 which may be of any desired number and a second set of one or more fluid tanks 7 which also may be of any desired number not necessarily the same as the number in the first set. shown at the right hand lower figure,

In Fig.4, as corner of the the master tank is indicated. It is to be understood that the rod 6 of this master tank is connected to float member or liquid displacing member 2 shown in dotted lines, and ,may be connected in any of-the ways heretofore described to means 24 to control .the respective connection of respective tanks to the source of fluid pressure and to the atmosphere alternately in sets. Valves 69, and 71 may be provided in theducts leading from mains 23 and 22 to the respective tanks so that any one or more of the tanks may be cut off from the fluid pressure mains 22 and 23.

A trunk supply liquid main is shownat'7 2 and by means of valves 73 and 74 this trunk may be connected to the sub-supply-mains 75 and 7 6. Valves 77 and 78 in the subsupply-mains permit the connection ,of the respective sub-mains to separate reservoirs rom that which supplies the trunk-main 72 and when said separate supply reservoirs are being used the trunk main 72 may be cut oil by the valves 73 and 74.' Valves 79, 80, 81, 82 and 83 may be employed to control the supply of liquid to the individual tanks 1 and 7 as will be obvious. 84 indicates a trunk-delivery-main connected to sub-deliverynnains 85 and 86 through valves 87 and 88. Valves 89 and 90 are provided for extensions of the sub-delivery-mains 85 and 86 and may lead to separate points for delivery. Valves 91, 92, 93

- and 94 serve to control the connections of trunk-mains. No controlling valves of the type of the valve 9 in Fig. 1 and indicated dia- M grammatically in Fig. 4 by T "shaped lines are shownprovided for the aster tank in circular rack 67, secured to the end of lever this diagram-for the reasonthat if but on:

and be controlled eflectively by the means 24 alone or a plurality of means 24. .l I desire it to be understood that the-embodiments of my invention which I have shown and described are for purposes of illusa pulsating delivery of In fact, any combination tration merely and that 'I contemplate all changesin form, assemblement and materials within the scope of the following claims. It is to be understood that the parts designed to contact with the liquid to be pumped are to be made of any suitable non-corrosive material or are to be made of strength-giving material lined with non-corrosive material.

It should be borne in mind that the elevator may operate satisfactorily to deliver liquids W'th a continuous non-pulsating flow against a wide range of'fixed opposing pressure at the point of delivery as in filtering a paratus and the like. The degree of the fluid pressure applied and the strength of the parts are the only limiting factors. Having thus described my invention, what 4 I desire to secure Patent, is

1. In an elevator for li uids, one or more liquid tanks; suitable supp y and delivery liquid ducts; suitable valves for said ducts fluid pressure connections for said tanks; valve mechanism for controlling said fluid pressure. connections andlocated at a considerable disby United States Letters tance from said tanks and entirely exterior to the fluid pressure inclosure of said tanks; a liquid displacing member within one of said tanks of greater weight than the volume of liquid it can displace; mechanical means connecting said liquid displacing member with said valve mechanism; and adjustable counter-acting means connected to said mechanical means to effect the operativeness of said liquid displacer for movement *both up and down in response to the rise and fall of a liquid of any one of a wide gravities.

2. In an elevator for liquids, a vertically arranged elongated tank of uniform interior cross section; suitable supply and delivery liquid ducts for said tank; suitable valves for said ducts fluid pressure connections for said tank; valve mechanism for controlling'said fluid pressure connections and locate at arange of specific 'tirely exterior to the displacing member of a ding fluid pressure connections for said tanks; valve mechanism entirely exterior tov the fluid pressure inclosure of said tanks for controlling said iluid pressure connections; a iloat member Within one of said tanks of greater specific gravity than the liquid to be heavier than the volume i of the liquid Whiclrit can displace; mechanical means connecting said liquid displacing i member with said valve mechanism; and adjustable counter-acting means connected to said mechanical means to effect the operativeness oi saidv liquid displacer for moveelevated; means operatively connecting said float member to said valve mechanism ;an adjustable counter balance Weight; and means comprising a flexible connection passing over a sheave for to said valve inechanisi ment up and down in response to the rise and 1 specific gravities.

3. liquid tanks; suitable supply and delivery liquid ducts; suitable valves for said ducts;

? fall of the liquid of any one of a Wide range of In an elevator for liquids, one or more 1 In testimony whereof, l have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAFFREY P. BUCHANAN.

Witnesses EDSON B. SAMMIS, CHRISTINE E. HANSELMANN.

connecting said Weight 

